Kris Boyd blames Rangers’ shock downturn on one Ibrox man | OneFootball

Kris Boyd has claimed Rangers’ shock downturn in form is due to the loss of Ivorian midfielder Mohamed Diomande who has missed two matches in a row.

Speaking after Rangers’ latest horror result, the former Rangers striker believes that the lack of quality v County then Dundee was in large part the absence of the ex-Nordjelland man.

He said:

If Kris Boyd watched the first half v Celtic, the entire match v Motherwell, and a host of other matches since Diomande has joined, he’d know he’s massively overselling the influence of the lad.

Dio hasn’t been awful, a long, long way from awful, but he’s a player we see not really finding his feet yet.

Since January, Dio has 14 tackles total. In 14 appearances. So that’s one tackle per appearance. It’s not terrible but it’s not sensational.

What Dio is good as is winning ground duels, 52% of them in fact, a pretty solid stat. It means he gets the ball in just over half the fights he has for it. Not breathtaking.

What about setting the tempo?

Key passes 11, lagging considerably behind many of his team mates. Even Raskin has as many as that and he’s hardly played this year.

Good passes in the final third? He even lags behind Silva here. Just 65.

Dio is not a bad player, but to suggest his absence is why Rangers’ form has crashed is stretching it.

He’s nowhere near integrated to the point that he’s vital, and he’s still finding his Rangers feet.

Compare that with the instant impact of Cortes and it’s night and day.

No, Diomande isn’t why Rangers are struggling.